Ellen Birkenblit was born in New Jersey and studied painting at Cooper Union, graduating in 1980. The artist is known for her abstracted paintings that reference the aesthetics of hastily-drawn cartoon panels. Her paintings often include partial or suggested figures and a strong sense of fragmented narrative.

Berkenblit’s studio space is dense – packed with materials on top of and underneath tables, artworks both finished, and…

Izumi Kato currently lives and works in Tokyo, Japan. The artist was trained in oil painting, but has since developed a novel approach to painting, often applying pigment directly with his hands. Izumi is known for his artworks depicting humanoid yet bizarrely distorted and alien figures, using an interesting array of sometimes-incongruous colors to create the works.

Julie Payne is an artist who works primarily in drawing media, creating figurative and abstract compositions that have a subdued and delicate bearing. The artist has academic training in architecture and sculpture, and many of her drawing works incorporate elements or references to three-dimensional constructions.

Payne’s studio, pictured above looks like a bright and clean drawing studio – from this perspective I can’t see…

Our Studio Sunday artist this weekend is Sheila Hicks. Born in Nebraska, Hicks worked in Guerrero, Mexico from 1959 to 1963 before relocating to Paris, France, where she is still based. The artist has spent the majority of her career working in textiles, using sculpting, weaving, and assemblage techniques to create unique objects.

The photo above shows Hicks at work in her studio several decades ago, possibly in Mexico. Here, the…

Today in Studio Sunday we’re remembering Katherine Westphal. The artist was a pioneer of American Arts and Crafts, part of a movement that helped legitimize traditionally feminine art forms like quilting and crochet as fine art media. Westphal herself was known for her work with quilts. Westphal studied art from a young age and worked as an art professor in California universities and colleges for many years.

Nicole Eisenman is a painter who currently lives and works in New York. Though she was born in Verdun, France, while her father was stationed there as an army psychiatrist, Eisenman grew up in New York and attended the Rhode Island School of Design in the 1980s. Eisenman is best known for her loose figurative paintings that address a range of relatable themes of modern life.

This week for Studio Sunday we’re looking at the work space of Vija Clemins. Clemins was born in Riga, Latvia, in 1938 but was relocated to the United States as a refugee at the age of 10, following the events of World War II. As an artist, Clemins has experimented with many mediums and techniques but is perhaps best known for her monochromatic drawings that mimic natural textures.

Today’s Studio Sunday artist is Lily Stockman. Stockman is currently based in Los Angeles, California, where she creates paintings and prints with clean, colorful brush marks and eye for abstract compositions. Stockman attended Harvard University, then spent several years living abroad in Mongolia and India, where she studied Buddhist painting techniques, pigments, and miniature paintings.

Today’s studio Sunday artist Bharti Kher. Based in India, Kher works in a variety of media including painting, sculpture, and large-scale installation. She is known for her incorporation of Indian cultural motifs such as the bindi into her artworks and figures.

Kher’s studio, as seen in the above photo, is jam-packed with figures, large and small – it almost looks like the artist is putting on some sort of bizarre stage…

Jessica Barensfeld is a jewelry maker based in Brooklyn, New York. The artist also runs a business creating handmade wool hats with her partner. Jessica’s jewelry studio is in her home, and the artist has taken advantage of the smaller space to build a welcoming, cozy atmosphere.

According to interviews, Jessica works with six interns in this shop. It seems exceptionally small and homey for so many staff but given the small…

Our Studio Sunday feature this week is Miriam Schapiro. Born in Toronto, Schapiro later moved to the United States to study art, later becoming a noted textile and collage artist and a proponent of the Pattern and Decoration movement, an art movement which sought to legitimize craft art within the fine art sphere.

Schapiro is known for her “femmages” – paintings and collages done with an eye toward a feminist aesthetic.…

Sanford Biggers was born in Los Angeles, moving to New York in 1999. He’s now based in Harlem, where he produces interdisciplinary artworks spanning the media of film, installation, performance, sculpture and painting.

Biggers is best known for frank, sometimes confrontational works that address social issues surrounding race and racial violence. He works in a range of media, carving out a practice that’s often augmented with…

Norwegian artist Bjarne Melgaard is currently based in New York, where he produces works in paint, sculpture, and most recently, fashion. The artist is as noteworthy as he is controversial, particularly in his homeland where he’s been called “the most famous artist since Edvard Munsch.”

This week’s Studio Sunday feature, Betye Saar, is a California-based assemblage artist and printmaker whose work has long been focused on challenging racial stereotypes. Saar was trained in design and began her career producing enamel jewelry and greeting cards. After taking a class in printmaking, Saar was convinced to turn her focus to a full-time art career.

Today’s Studio Sunday feature is Jacob Lawrence, a painter originally from Atlantic City, New Jersey, who was known for his colorful, abstracted depictions of African American life and culture in the 20th century. Lawrence’s style was often compared to cubism – the artist himself even referred to it as “dynamic cubism” – but was most heavily influenced by art styles coming out of Harlem, NY.